December 11th 2020

Chapter 346
Their Place to Hide

One of the first things she'd picked up on, when she'd started to have to deal with sitting in on Parent-Teacher nights, herself on the teacher side, receiving parents, was what happened earlier that day… with the kids. Not all of them were like this, but several of them for one reason or another would be concerned about what their teachers would tell their parents when they came along that night, and so they would be on their very best behavior in class that day. Maybe they wanted to leave a good impression on her and the other teachers, so that when they sat across from their mother, father, or whoever came in the role of parent, the teachers would perhaps hold a good thought for them.

She'd done some of that herself as a student, if she was being honest, mostly back in New York. It didn't always work… Actually, it rarely did… Okay, never, but if Mr. Matthews had gotten to be her teacher long enough to sit across her mother the one time… Anyway, she had never realized how it was not just her, how it was a lot of the kids, across the grades, whether they did it consciously or not. It made her realize how little she knew about how a lot of them did in their other classes, though she had known it to some extent, with how some of the other teachers would have their differing views of the kids she saw every day in her class. And when she saw one of them being so overly good, even in her class, where they had nothing to worry about, she had to wonder what subject or subjects had them so worried.

The first time she'd done one of these, last fall, oh… It wasn't like she ever got to see what happened at these things. All she knew was that her mother would come back from them and look borderline discouraged. It would make her feel so bad, and she'd try and put more effort in what she did in the days, sometimes weeks that followed. But then… Then she'd just come to find that, no matter what she did, she was still struggling so much, and so her drive to try would deplete itself and she would be back as she usually was.

It wasn't until they'd moved to Texas that it had all started to turn around for her, and that had been… Well, it had been a lot of things, it had been… like she'd finally been pushed to her limit. She'd lost her whole world, everyone she knew and cared for to any degree. All she had left was her mother, and even though she counted a lot more than most things… she wasn't there, not at school. And Maya, at thirteen, had become so concerned with that fresh start and not wasting it, not letting people think she was no good. By some chance, all this had happened even as she was brought to meet and get to know friends like none other, who would become so integral to her life that they remained as such today, more and more as time had gone on.

And she'd had teachers like Lindsay Alcott… Actually, Miss Alcott in particular, that first year, that first day… They were colleagues now, even friends, but she doubted the woman knew how much she'd done for her, just by being who she was as a human being and as a teacher. So much of who Maya herself was as a teacher, she believed, had been inspired by her. Leon Morales had come to Maya for a letter because, unlike some of the other teachers, she actually saw him, and she'd be willing to bet that Lindsay was another one of those who saw Leon for who he was, not just 'the big guy.'

So when Maya had found herself sitting at her desk that first night, the fall of the previous year, and she'd received all those parents, one by one, as nervous as she was, she'd just called up the face of the student in question, and remembering who they were, what they had done in her class, it became so easy to tell the parents what needed to be told. It wasn't always easy… Some parents either hated to be there or had solid ideas of where they stood and where young Mrs. Friar stood. She'd quickly earned a reputation – among the teachers, not the parents – as the strongest when it came to taking no raised tone or rude behavior from anyone. She'd either earn the parents' respect for it, or she'd manage to say what she had to say and send them on their way so she could get to the next on that long list.

That was her tactic with the parents. As for the kids, with their masquerade of good behavior, from last spring's parent night through last fall's and now tonight's, Maya had decided that she'd turn that mood on its head. They became free periods, where they could pick out whatever medium they wanted, go and do whatever came to mind with it. More often than not, the results would be much more telling than they realized. By the time they left her class, they would look just a bit more relaxed, and she was happy to see it. This didn't work so well for the juniors, who didn't see her until the end of the day, but it wasn't without effect.

In reverse, the first ones to come along would be her seniors, which was really for the best, as they'd have so much on their minds already.

"Hey, Mrs. Friar," Helena greeted her with a smile as she came in along with Derek. Maya tried not to look so hurried as she put her phone away. She'd been shopping for pants.

"Good morning," she smiled, nodding to each of them. "So, who will I have the pleasure of seeing tonight?" she asked Helena. With Derek, it had always been his mother so far and would probably continue in that way on this last one.

"My dad's coming again," Helena replied. Maya had met both Mr. & Mrs. Zimmerman before last fall's parent night, of course, on the day of the museum field trip at the end of last year.

"Your dad's good people. He insists I call him Aaron."

"He's one of those 'Mr. Zimmerman's my father' guys," Helena imitated her father, all the while rolling her eyes. It didn't change the fact that she was smiling as she did it.

"What does your grandfather have to say about that?" Maya wondered.

"Call me Isaac," Helena impersonated the old man to perfection, going by Derek's snickering response.

"Huh…" Maya blinked.

"Yeah," Helena grinned.

"So who is Mr. Zimmerman? Does he even exist?" Maya asked, with a tone of deep thought.

"Oh, yeah, my uncle Mark," Helena replied at once.

The seniors gave way in time to the sophomores, and even as Maya would stop and think how she had been there for all their high school parent nights, she thought about how she wouldn't be, not for next year. They were going to be the first ones she saw through to the end, although how she could have thought that, when she knew that she and Lucas were looking to have kids before long… Somehow, she was dreading having to tell them about next year the most, right after her current juniors, who would be gone by the time she returned.

It wasn't until lunch rolled around that she realized she hadn't thought about her bump and her clothes once since classes had started. Although naturally now that she had thought about it once, there would be no forgetting it again so easily, would there?

Being around her students, it was one thing. But then the other teachers, especially the ones she was closest to…

"I picked the worst day to decide I needed to cut back on the Ma Maggie lunches," Morgan sighed as she walked into the art room with her packed meal. Maya hid her laughter by taking a bite of her sandwich. "There's a reason I never bring anything I made, do you want to know what it is?"

"Depends. Will it affect your self-esteem?"

"No, Mrs. Friar, I'm a big girl," Morgan replied with mock sweetness. In response, Maya reached into her bag and pulled out the little plastic container where she'd packed away four of her GiGi cookies. Morgan saw it and followed it like a dog with a ball. She'd had them before and she was a full convert to their wonder.

"None of this until after that," Maya nodded to Morgan's lunch.

"This day is never any fun," the music teacher huffed.

"I thought you liked parent night."

"It's fine, most of the time, but I wouldn't say I like it."

They swapped stories of their most extreme cases in their first two years as teachers, with parents who had remained memorable for all the wrong reasons. It was a relief that Morgan would get so caught up in her stories, or else she might have caught sight of something after Maya dropped something on the floor and had to stretch to pick it up. She'd just felt her shirt riding up and reached to pull it back down at once. Morgan never saw a thing.

The freshmen came along after lunch, and much as it had been an unspoken thing with them since that day in the bathroom last month, Maya knew Khalil had to know her secret. Today in particular there had been very little pretense. When she'd gone to grab something from the top shelves of the supply closet, which required her to unfold the step ladder and climb, the boy had come up at once to lend a hand by going up for her. In his case, it had nothing to do with putting on a good show before parents' night.

"Thanks," she told him when he climbed back down. "Your grandmother's coming tonight?"

"Yes," Khalil confirmed.

"Looking forward to it," Maya smiled.

Maya: Going out before last period. I don't want to be sitting in the middle of PTN with one of my kids' parents wondering what I'm supposed to wear tomorrow.

Lucas: Probably for the best.

Lucas: Send pictures?

Maya: Fashion show tonight when I get home.

Lucas: Sold.

Lucas: 732…

Maya: Did you really just double on the 366 for the tenant?

Lucas: Of course I did.

Maya: Of course you did.

Maya: And a combined 732 from us, too.

Even though the salesgirl at the store did not know her and probably didn't know anyone she knew, Maya was still just as careful not to let her see the bump when she went and tried on the clothes she'd picked out. Knowing her luck, it would have found a way to get back to someone. At the same time, she tried to be strategic, getting items she could still grow into for… however long it would take for her to be too big again. By then, it would be future Maya's problem.

The bags were left in the minivan. She considered changing, but this would only draw more attention and that was the opposite of what she wanted. What she wanted, and what was important, was that she could now focus on tonight, with the dozens of short meetings she'd be having with her students' parents. She'd spend most of her time sitting behind the desk. This brought up memories of her mother pointing out whenever she'd notice an actress on television who was clearly using every trick in the book to hide a pregnancy. She'd get particularly riled up whenever she thought it was way too obvious. Now the real potential trouble that night would be Maya's trying not to laugh when she sat at her desk and thought about her mother again.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners